


Friday Night: How to Have Fun With Co-Workers From the Opposition

by mrslaurelritter



Category: BrainDead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:18:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7678888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrslaurelritter/pseuds/mrslaurelritter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gareth invites Laurel for drinks, Luke and Laurel have some brother-sister interactions and Gustav makes a nuisance of himself, as usual. Just another typical day in the life of a hill staffer. Well, typical for Laurel anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Invitations: How to Ask Out a Co-Worker and Relate It to Work

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fic came to me when I was on a six hour car journey, so here's the first chapter written on my phone (my way of apologising for any spelling errors!) Canon compliant up until episode 6, but assuming that Gareth took the news about the bugs well and is now part of the anti-bug team. Some spoilers up to episode 6 as past events are referenced

There was a knock at the door, followed by the click of it opening. Laurel didn't even bother looking up from her emails, as she assumed it was Luke.  
"Hi Laurel, can I talk to you for a moment?" A familiar voice asked.  
Laurel looked up in surprise. "Uh hi Gareth! Sure, come in, do you want to sit down?" She gestured towards the chair in front of her desk and tried to keep her face neutral but she could feel the corners of her mouth creeping up, threatening to turn into a full-blown smile. She really was in trouble if just his presence had this effect, it would be so much harder to convince everyone they were just colleagues, especially her brother.  
"Oh no, I just came to deliver this" he untucked an envelope that Laurel hadn't noticed from under his arm and proffered it to her. "They're some emails to Red about who's coordinating the gerrymandering from lower down, I thought they may be of some interest? Might give us a clue as to who else has... Well, a bug problem" he dropped his voice on the last sentence, taking a few steps towards her, both to hand over the envelope and to prevent anyone from overhearing.  
'Oh thank you, I'll look through them later" Laurel took the envelope from him and put them on her desk. She looked up at him expectantly when he didn't leave after handing it over to her. "Can I help you with anything else?" She inquired in a mockingly formal tone.  
"Well... I was wondering... Just out of curiosity... Would you maybe want to... Get a drink with me tonight? No talk of bugs or politics or anything work related, just two friends... Well, just having some fun?" He asked hesitantly, rubbing his jaw bashfully with the palm of his hand, his cheeks colouring slightly.  
Surprise flitted across Laurel's face before she quickly schooled her features. She hadn't expected Gareth to ask her out anywhere again after: the tax prom that ended up in them both using each other to try and change who had the majority in government; the disastrous first 'date' at the wake; the horrendously awkward encounter at her apartment; and the... unusual events of the previous 'date' (although he had taken the news about the bugs surprisingly well, and although the mood of that particular evening was effectively ruined, it was nice having someone else who knew about the bugs). She realised she was nodding, so she asked "How about the usual bar at 9?" before she could change her mind. She noted the surprise on Gareth's face at her agreement with a small sense of smugness - she particularly enjoyed being unpredictable after her little chat with Red.  
"That sounds great! I would offer to pick you up but Red has us all working late, like I'm-lucky-to-be-home-by-midnight late, so I'll have to go straight from the office." Gareth explained apologetically. "I promise that I'll definitely make it though, it's a Friday night and everything shuts down for the weekend by 9, even Red has to let us go before then." He chuckled, somewhat sadly, and Laurel felt a flash of pity. She knew Gareth was being overworked, she just hadn't known how bad the problem was. In that moment she was intensely grateful that Luke had, against all odds, remained uninfected and sane. If something happened to him (God forbid) she'd have to choose between staying under his ruthless control and leaving D.C. behind, and she was starting to accumulate a number of reasons to stay, including (and perhaps especially) the man standing in front of her.  
"I'll meet you in there at about 9 then? Whoever gets there first can try and get our usual table, yeah?" She half smiled, half grimaced at the memories associated with their usual table. But nothing weird was going to happen tonight, it would just be two friends having fun together. Probably.  
"Sounds like a plan. See you later, Laurel, enjoy the rest of your day." He turned around, walked the short distance from her desk to the door and opened it.  
"Thank you, you too." She called after him. She heard him laugh quietly and then the door closed and she was shut off from the outside world, left alone in blissful quiet. She turned back to her computer and started counting in her head "1...2...3...4......."

A whole 30 seconds later, there was another knock at the door, followed by the click of it opening again. "Laurel what on earth was Wheatus' man doing down here? Are you two involved?" Luke sat down on the chair in front of her desk and put his feet up on the dulled wood surface.  
"Luke you can at least respect the furniture here, even if you don't respect my privacy, apparently" Laurel jokingly scolded him. "And no, we're not involved, he came down to give me this" she gestured vaguely at the envelope on her desk, pretending to be focused on what was on her computer screen in an attempt to fool him into thinking she was busy so that he would leave.  
"And what's in the envelope, sis? Pictures of him doing... Naughty, naked things?" He winked at her, his tone light and teasing.  
"Actually I'm not 100% sure of the contents, but when I went up to his office to ask if they'd been gerrymandering - you remember that old grumpy guy - he said he was not aware of any foul play. So I challenged him to find some proof that it wasn't happening, and I'm assuming this is the proof he gathered. Or faked, seeing as those crop circles were definitely NOT normal voting districts. But hey, he's got to try and save face on behalf of his boss I guess." She did her best to put on a haughty expression to convey her displeasure at her brother's lack of trust in her, and to try and hide the fact that she was lying, but she gathered that she wasn't very successful when he just laughed at her.  
"Fine, I believe you, it seems like a somewhat plausible story." He paused to roll his eyes. "Well, whatever is going on between you two, be careful with him, yeah? He's pretty smooth talking, I wouldn't want to lose you to the Republican side!" he winked again.  
"Why do both our bosses think we're involved?! Nothing's happening between us, I swear!" Laurel sputtered indignantly.  
"Oh yeah, about your little chat with Red the other day. You know, there's no bigger compliment in politics than being told by the opposing side that you're in their way. All the more reason I want you around. You're better at this stuff than I think you'd care to admit." He took his feet off the desk and stood up, brushing down his jacket in an attempt to make it smooth and smart. He quickly gave up and walked towards the door. He put his hand on the handle and then turned around. "Oh, and Laurel? I'm not going to ask what happened with the F.B.I. guy, but if you ever want to talk... Well, you can talk to me." He said awkwardly. Laurel was touched. She'd only briefly mentioned yesterday that things were over with Anthony, he must have picked up on her darker tone. But then again, he was a politician, and (as much as it pained her to admit) he was a good one, he was skilled at reading people.  
"Thank you Luke, that means a lot." She said gratefully. He nodded stiffly, then flashed her one of his charming smiles and left the room. Laurel smiled to herself. It was nice to know that, really, he did care about her.


	2. Thoughts and Feelings: How to Navigate an Emotional Minefield with Your Sibling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Laurel have some quality brother-sister bonding. Kind of.

Five o'clock rolled around and Laurel shut everything down and walked out of her office. She saw Luke sitting at his desk and hesitated. She wanted to tell him what had happened with Anthony, but she also didn't want to think about it ever again.  
Luke must have noticed her hesitating. "What's up sis, did you have something to say?" He didn't even look up from his computer, his tone nonchalant.  
Laurel was about to say she was fine and wish him goodnight but the memory of Anthony was now fresh in her mind and she burst into tears instead.  
"Woah what's up Laurel? This isn't like you!" Luke panicked and got up to guide her towards a chair, then sat back down in his own.  
"I'm sorry I just... I'm sorry" Laurel sniffled, desperately trying to stifle the tears that were now falling freely.   
"Hey, it's okay, you can tell me anything" Luke tried to reassure her, looking progressively more frazzled as the seconds went by and tears refused to stop.  
"I... ended things... with Anthony... because he tried... to attack... me..." Laurel managed to get the words out between sobs. Luke immediately jumped up in fury.  
"Did he hurt you? Have you told the police? What did you do to stop him?" He shot question after question at her but Laurel stopped listening after 'what did you do to stop him?' and a small, wry smile began to spread over her face.  
Luke noticed the tears had stopped, and he hesitated. "What?" He asked gently.  
"You asked what I did to him... Well, I used some brass knuckles and I... Well, face-punched him out the door." A nervous hiccup escaped from her.  
"Seriously?!" Luke brightened up immediately. "That's my girl! That's the real Healy way to deal with these things, dad would be proud!" He grinned and sat down, immediately more relaxed. "And I'm proud of you, sis."   
Laurel grinned. She felt much better about everything, and although she couldn't tell him about the bugs, it felt like the huge weight that had been steadily growing and crushing her since she first arrived in D.C. had been lifted. She dragged her hand across her face to dry and get rid of the tear tracks and stood up. "Thanks Luke. I'd be grateful if you didn't tell dad though, he'd try and do his interfering thing again and I just want to put this all behind me." Laurel tried to plead with her eyes without making her tone sound too desperate. Once again, Luke picked up on her body language better than Laurel could have hoped.   
"Don't worry sis, no one will know anything about this. Except maybe the F.B.I. git, he may realise something happened when life gets really hard for him at work. He may even be forced to leave, but I can't make any promises other than I will do my best to make his life hell." Luke had a steely glint in his eye that made Laurel struggle to hold down a chuckle. She knew that glint and it meant Luke was on a mission.   
"Thanks Luke. It means a lot." Laurel nodded in gratitude and stood up.  
"Was that everything then?" Luke was already drifting back to his computer, his attention divided once more.  
"That was everything. See you around Luke" Laurel left feeling much lighter than she had in ages. Now she could properly enjoy her night with Gareth without the Anthony thing still hanging over her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't part of my original plan but I couldn't resist a bit of Luke and Laurel quality time! (Hence the shortness of this chapter). Once again, sorry for any mistakes, its very difficult to check through when I'm on my phone. Hope you enjoyed this! Chapter 3 should be up fairly soon.


	3. Decisions and Dates: the Preparation and Preface to the Actual Interactions

Laurel was sat on her bed trying to decide what to wear. Seeing as it wasn't technically a 'date' they were going on, she didn't want to dress too fancy in case he thought that she thought it was a date. But she didn't want to dress too casual in case he thought that she thought that it wasn't a date. But it wasn't a date, right? It was just a friendly get together, so why should she care if she dressed like it wasn't a date? She was starting to confuse herself, so she stopped thinking. She stood up and walked purposefully towards her wardrobe, vowing she'd wear the first thing she touched, and ended up wearing something that was probably ideal for the occasion: a fairly low-cut (but still somewhat modest) royal blue blouse and a white skirt that fell just above her knees. She gave herself a final check in the mirror and picked up her favourite pair of boots from beside the door. Perfect. She checked the clock and "DAMN, I'M LATE!" she exclaimed to the empty room. Somehow she had managed to get home, prepare and eat dinner by six o'clock, then spend almost three hours putting on some make-up, making her hair look more decent than she made it look for work, and choosing what to wear. In the back of her mind the words "ha and you think this isn't a date" floated around before she barked a laugh, grabbed her keys and practically ran out the door, doing her best to dismiss the thought.

She quick-walked the fairly short distance from her apartment to the bar and made it inside with time to spare. Well, she was ten minutes late but Gareth wasn't there yet either, so she counted that as spare time. Despite the fact that the bar was packed, their usual table was, miraculously, free, so she walked over to it and sat down, just as a rather frantic looking Gareth appeared in the doorway. He made his way to the table and sat himself opposite Laurel.  
"Sorry I'm late, Red was having a screaming fight with the poor security people who were trying to make us go home and I had to try and slip out unnoticed, I hope you haven't been here too long." The words were spilling out of his mouth apologetically, and Laurel briefly toyed with the idea of pretending like she'd been there for ages, just to mess with him. Then she looked at the guilt swimming in his eyes and thought better of it.  
"I only just got here myself, time ran away from me this evening." She admitted. Gareth gave her a musical exhale (that she'd learnt was a laugh) in response.   
"Seems like everything worked out perfectly then!" He smiled at her hesitantly. "You look gorgeous tonight by the way, that colour really suits you." He gestured at her blouse, still smiling. Laurel blushed at the compliment, which caused his smile to turn into one of those infuriating (yet incredibly attractive) smirks that caused Laurel to blush even harder. "Shall I get us some drinks?" He asked mock-politely, clearly trying to save Laurel from the embarrassing moment, but he was still wearing a hint of the smirk. Laurel nodded, not trusting herself to speak: her mouth had gone dry at about the same time that she'd started blushing, and the Gods of Fate were not kind enough to allow her to get through the situation with her dignity intact if she tried to use her voice. Gareth's smirk broadened again. "Two Old-Fashioneds, coming right up!" He glanced at the bar, then grimaced slightly at the queue. "Well, they're coming eventually." he amended, and Laurel laughed. He stood up and made his way carefully to the bar, picking his way through the multitude of tables and people. Laurel watched him go, the corners of her mouth turned up in what was unmistakably an affectionate smile. She saw him join the back of the queue and turn to look at her, raising his eyebrow when he noticed her staring at him. The colour that had finally started fading from her cheeks returned in an instant, and the smirk found its way back on his face shortly after. Laurel rolled her eyes and settled them on the menu just above his head. She let her eyes become unfocused and revelled in being able to not pay attention to her surroundings for once. She heard a scraping sound behind her, as if someone was dragging a table somewhere, but she ignored it as that seem like a fairly unlikely event in such a crowded bar. But Laurel should really know by now: the more unlikely an event, the higher the chance that it was happening, as when the scraping stopped, an unfortunately familiar voice said "hey Laurel!"   
Laurel groaned internally. Why couldn't she have one normal night?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could the familiar voice be?! ;)  
> Apologies for any errors, its very difficult to proofread on my phone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far :)


	4. Meet and Greet: How to Introduce your Relationship to Those Who Care

"Gustav, can't I have one night to myself?!" Laurel moaned, turning to face the eager looking man sat next to her. She noticed that he had, in fact, managed to somehow drag a table over and join it up with hers and she struggled to restrain her eyes that threatened to roll so hard that they might fall out of her head.  
"What a charming welcome Laurel!" Gustav exclaimed, sarcasm dripping from every word.  
"I'm kind of on a date here" she did her best to not look at Gareth in a vain attempt at not giving away who she was with.  
"Oh I know, I'm also 'kind of on a date', I thought we could do a double 'kind of' date" he gave her a pointed look that clearly said "there's no 'kind of' about this date and everyone knows it" which Laurel chose to ignore in favour of what she picked up from his little speech.  
"Wait, YOU'RE on a date?! Who with?" She asked in disbelief.  
"Ah, she went to the restroom, but she's just coming now!" He stood up, a mischievous smile on his face. "Laurel, I believe you've met-"  
"Rochelle?!" Laurel exclaimed, utterly stunned.   
"Hey Laurel, I'm sorry I didn't realise you were here" Rochelle greeted her apologetically.  
"How did this even happen?!" Laurel asked incredulously.  
"Well, after spending some quality time together at your apartment the other day-" Laurel blushed furiously at the memory "-and seeing as we've been spending quite a lot of time together these past few days, I thought I'd give this a shot. We don't know how much longer we may have as rational human beings, best to make the most of it!" Gustav winked, which was a thoroughly disconcerting sight in Laurel's opinion.  
Laurel opened her mouth to reply, when she noticed Gareth heading back over with their drinks. "You've gotta go Gustav, I just want one normal ni- hi Gareth!" She hissed the first part but changed to normal, breezy speech to acknowledge her not-date's return.  
"Hey, uh Gustav? And Rochelle, right?" Gareth addressed the two newcomers with slight suspicion.   
"Oh its awkward" Gustav muttered to Laurel "Yeah that's right! Nice to see you again" he continued to Gareth before Laurel could reply with "it wouldn't be awkward if you would just leave!"   
"I think its best that we forget we've met each other before" Rochelle reasoned. Laurel shot her a grateful look. Maybe Rochelle and Gustav getting together wasn't as odd as she initially thought, she seemed to be very good at keeping him under control.  
Gareth swallowed hard and nodded. "Agreed. If you guys would excuse me, I must go to the restroom. Perhaps we could reintroduce ourselves when I get back." Gareth looked at Laurel, who smiled encouragingly at him. Maybe tonight wouldn't turn out as bad as she feared.   
"Sounds like a good plan, I'll keep an eye on the drinks?" Laurel suggested. Gareth gave a chuckle in response and headed in the direction of the toilets.   
"I'll get us some drinks in the meantime, what can I get you?" Gustav asked Rochelle in an oddly formal tone.  
"Just some sparkling water for me thanks, I have to drive back after this" Rochelle smiled at Gustav, who returned it with a grin of his own before disappearing off into the crowds.  
Laurel immediately rounded on Rochelle. "So! You and Gustav?" She teased. Rochelle groaned slightly   
"Well yeah, he kept dropping hints and I got tired of his poor attempts at subtlety so I agreed to go out tonight. I'm not exactly complaining though, he's kinda cute. And very smart. And those sort of outweigh the fact that he's..." She trailed off and looked helplessly at Laurel.  
"Completely infuriating?" She supplied, a twinkle in her eye.  
"Well... Yes, that." Rochelle conceded, with a brief laugh. "But there are worse people than Gustav in this world." She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself more than Laurel.  
"I think its a match made in heaven, you're both smart, and you seem to be able to keep him reined in, he's far more tolerable when you're acting as his impulse control" Laurel paused to roll her eyes. Rochelle laughed again.  
"What are we laughing at, ladies?" Gareth asked, slipping back into his seat opposite Laurel. He looked slightly nervous and Laurel had fight to contain her amusement; after all, she couldn't exactly blame him, the other time they were all together was possibly the weirdest few minutes ever experienced by anyone.  
"Just discussing the suitability of a Gustav/Rochelle pairing" Laurel explained, giving him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Gareth raised an eyebrow.  
"So how long have you two been together, two months? Three?" He questioned politely.  
"More like two or three hours. I don't think we've even known each other for two months..." She trailed off, counting backwards in her head.  
"Really, I thought you were a thing when I went to Laurel's apartment?" Gareth's eyebrow was getting a good workout this even, Laurel noted with amusement.  
"Hey, we're not talking about that night at my apartment. Ever." Laurel interjected firmly. She glared at Gareth, who had the grace to look bashful. A silence fell over the table, and Laurel found herself caught up in Gareth's eyes. They were quite a lovely shade of blue, she registered, and they were the right mix of piercing and inviting. She could probably come up with a million metaphors and similes about them from her "wannabe poet" days, a lot of them involving water, but she was so lost in the eyes in question that she was somewhat dumbstruck.

On the other side of the eyes, Gareth was equally as caught up in Laurel's. They were such a warm shade of brown, and the simple makeup (eyeliner possibly? He didn't know) she wore did a very good job of highlighting their beauty. But he was most fascinated by the heat in them, the fire of determination that was the driving force behind so many of her actions. Even when she was looking at him so softly, there was still that glint in her eye. It must be the Healy glint, he decided, for Luke frequently wore it too. It was definitely more attractive on Laurel, he concluded. Everything was more attractive on Laurel than anyone else he'd ever met...

Rochelle observed Laurel and Gareth gazing into each other's eyes with a mixture of amusement and pride. She was proud that they'd worked through everything despite all the odds, and she found it funny how shut off they were from the outside world. She smiled to herself. At least some things weren't going awfully at the moment.

Gustav returned with the drinks he ordered, and tactfully slid into his seat next to Gareth quietly. Rochelle looked at him gratefully, and Gustav raised his eyebrows, giving her his exasperated "I am actually capable of acting like a normal human being" look. Rochelle smiled and took her drink, taking a small sip and smiling appreciatively. Gustav took a sip from his and immediately relaxed. "I thought they might have spiked it" he said out of the corner of his mouth. Rochelle raised an eyebrow. "Spiked with bug people smoothie" he explained, and Rochelle barked a laugh which roused Laurel and Gareth. They both blinked hard a few times and looked around a bit dazed. Rochelle had to fight back another laugh at how they reacted, they looked as if they'd both woken up from a deep sleep.   
"So sorry to interrupt" Gustav didn't sound the least bit sorry, and Laurel glared at him. "But hey, now we can all introduce ourselves again and have a nice, normal double date"   
"Not a date Gustav" Laurel reminded him, looking apologetically at Gareth. She was surprised to see a brief flash of hurt in his eyes, and her expression turned quizzical.  
"I wouldn't mind if this was a date." He said bluntly. Laurel's mouth dropped open slightly. She didn't realise that the prospect of 'them' was still on the cards.  
"I wouldn't mind if it was a date either" she replied, almost shyly, and Gareth's face broke out into one of his genuine smiles.   
"Then let's call it a date?" He offered her a final chance to back out, but Laurel wasn't going to take it.   
"Let's call it a date." She confirmed, nodding her head slightly. His smile broadened. "Although if anyone that has anything to do with the government asks, it wasn't a date. I don't want this getting back to Luke. Or worse, my dad." She said flatly. Gareth nodded, suddenly businesslike.   
"And Red would probably fire me if he knew. So we-" he gestured to the table "-know that Laurel and I are on a date. Everyone else knows we had drinks as friends." Everyone mumbled their assent, and Gareth relaxed. He picked up his glass and tilted it towards Laurel. "A toast: here's to us, who are on a date against all odds" he grinned, and Laurel raised her own, a smile creeping across her face.  
"Here's to us" she agreed, and they clinked their glasses together, and both proceeded to drink a sizeable amount in one gulp. They put their glasses down, and both realised at the exact same moment that they hadn't broken eye contact in the past five minutes. They both looked away simultaneously, colour rising in their cheeks.   
"Anywaaaaayyyy..." Gustav interjected slowly. Laurel and Gareth both turned towards him, somewhat grateful for the distraction.  
"Yes, anyway, shall we introduce ourselves?" Rochelle looked at Laurel as if asking permission to proceed. Laurel nodded and exhaled in giddy relief. Maybe this evening wouldn't be a total disaster after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gustav, Rochelle, Laurel and Gareth interactions arey favourite, although I may be biased because I love the beginning of episode 6. Once more, apologies for any errors, its very difficult to check everything on my phone! Hope you're enjoying this, feedback is, as always, much appreciated!


End file.
